Sunday Splash Page #389

"Rubber Ball Boy," in New Warriors Annual #1, by Dan Slott (writer), John Calimee (penciler), Don Hudson (inker), Kevin Tinsley (colorist), Rick Parker (letterer)

Only the first volume of New Warriors got any Annuals, but it's also the only one that really lasted long enough to bother. Four in total, each of the first three acting as a single part of some larger story running across various other Annuals that year.

This one, "Kings of Pain" included X-Force and X-Factor among others, and involved someone gathering all the dispersed energy that used to be Proteus. This was a predictably terrible idea. The second, "Hero Killers", ran through New Warriors and the various Spider-Man books, and involved someone abducting young heroes to use as lab rats, essentially. The third was someone with a deep connection to the Darkforce Dimension - not Cloak - going nuts and using the Darkforce to control lots of heroes. You can tell how invested I was in these story by my repeated use of "someone." It was different someones each time, if you care. Only the fourth and final Annual was its own thing, focusing on recurring Warriors' opponents Psionex, but I'm not that interested in Psionex, so I never bought that one.

The rest of each Annual was taken up by short, 4-6 pages stories focused on one character or another. In this one, most of those are different characters relating their backstory to someone - Nova's talking to his kid brother, Namorita's giving an interview, Firestar's is actually narrated by Emma Frost - and how the Warriors got together. Although the stuff about the formation of the team is usually relegated to the last few panels, which seems like a missed opportunity to delve into what each team member thinks about the team, its purpose, their role in it.

This story is the exception, at least as far as this annual, and is about Speedball drinking some concoction that's supposed to let them take readings through Robbie's kinetic field. Then he spends the next two pages trying to activate his powers in various dangerous ways - jumping off buildings, getting hit with a wrecking ball - only to be saved at the last second by one of New York's 5,000 superheroes. And then there's a twist ending, which I won't spoil. Unless you ask, because what the hell, the story is 35 years old. 

Sunday Splash Page #388

"Multiculture Pals," in New Warriors (vol. 5) #4, by Christopher Yost (writer), Marcus To (artist), David Curiel (color artist), Joe Caramagna (letterer)

After the team's ignominious destruction at Mark Millar's hands in Civil War, there was a 4th volume of New Warriors, involving a bunch of depowered mutants using suits loaded with various supervillain weapons to fight crime as unregistered superheroes. I think the team was secretly run by Night Thrasher's brother(?), but other than the idea of following their own consciences, to hell with the opinions of the more established heroes, it didn't seem to have much connection with the "New Warriors" beyond the name.

I'm not sure I ever saw anything positive said about it, but it did last 20 issues, which is the longest of any of volumes 2-5, so take from that what you will.

In 2014, the New Warriors got their next shot, courtesy of Christopher Yost and Marcus To. Justice and Speedball are doing the "Hard-Travelin' Heroes" bit, when they get roped into a mess involving *aggrieved sigh* the High Evolutionary, and some glowy-head weirdos called "Evolutionaries" that had apparently fought the X-Men some time recently. A shadowy figure informs both parties the Celestials are returning to Earth. To save humanity, all these "blasphemies" running around must be eliminated.

The Evolutionaries keep popping up around the world, attacking one person but drawing someone else into the fight. Eventually everyone pictured above ends up inside the High Evolutionary's base, where he's building a machine to kill everyone with powers. So he's actually going to go more lethal than the Wraith Queen's plan at the end of volume 1 (though I assume she was going to kill everyone on Earth once all the superpowers were out of the way, so maybe it's a matter of the time scale you use.) 

Roll call! You've got Justice (mutant), Speedball (extra-dimensional energy), Scarlet Spider/Kaine (clone), Water Snake (Atlantean), Hummingbird/the one shouting (demigod), Haechi/the dude with the horn (Inhuman), Nova/Sam Alexander (extra-terrestrial energy) and Sun Girl (regular human with a jetpack). I was going to say Sam was only there because the High Evolutionary thought the alien supercomputer in his helmet would make the death-machine work better, but when he activates said machine in this issue (minus the helmet) it starts killing Sam, so I guess the Nova Force counts. 

In terms of team dynamics, Justice is the leader. Scarlet Spider's the grumpy asshole who thinks the whole thing is stupid. Water Snake is the warrior-type that's kind of stiff and doesn't get jokes (or what passes for jokes with Speedball, which is mostly being annoying.) Hummingbird's the hyped-up cheerleader type (which I guess was the contrast Yost played up with Kaine in his solo book.) Haechi's the one with no place else to go. His family got targeted in the factional power play crap Marvel did a lot of when they were trying to make the Inhumans a big deal. I don't really know how to describe Sun Girl.

Since most of the cast are pre-existing characters, Marcus To doesn't get to design many new looks. I think Sun Girl's new, as are Water Snake and Haechi. Sun Girl's look isn't bad, bright and an appropriate emblem, with the tech parts to break up the yellow-and-white color scheme. Water Snake's an Atlantean that Speedball insists is amnesiac Namorita, though Nita never had black hair with blue skin. Rather than the flowing white tattoos Namorita had in volume 3, Water Snake's make me think of kanji, and they're restricted to her arms.

(Yost apparently planned that Water Snake was supposed to magically combine with the time-traveling Namorita that Richard Rider Nova rescued from The Fault in his book, but never got to it.)

Haechi has Bishop's power, although if he absorbs enough energy he transforms into a flame-spitting unicorn on steroids thing. It's weird, or maybe I should say, inhuman? 

Audience: NO. 

I don't like how To depicts Justice's powers. Traditionally, artists go with an amoebic blue field around whatever he's gripping with his telekinesis, usually with a smaller bit of blue spiking from his forehead as a sign the power comes from his mind. Marcus To draws it like Vance just shoots waves of blue force from his hands, which is less interesting. I also don't always love how he draws Speedball's bouncing in terms of his posture. It suggests leaping more than bouncing, whereas Bagley and most other New Warriors' artists tend to have Speedball's limbs all over the place and with his body turned in weird angles. You could at least argue by this point he's gotten enough training and, post-Civil War and all the resulting "Penance" horseshit, that he's trying to be more focused in use of his powers and actually control his kinetic motion. Still, he loses a bit of the unique aspect of how he moved.

Since the book ended after 12 issues, Yost never gets much past the initial storyline. It turns out the Eternals are the ones manipulating H.E. and the Evolutionaries, for some likely nefarious reason that's never explained. Yost way oversells the Eternals, saying each one is as powerful as an entire team of Avengers. Maybe if we're talking the Kooky Quartet, but otherwise, that's nonsense. Sersi was on an Avengers' squad, she was not more powerful than the rest of the roster.

Still, it's an attempt to make the Warriors look good, that they challenged and ultimately stymied such an enemy. One of the problems with volumes 2 & 3 was they took the approach "street level=incapable." Essentially, if you're a team that's not fighting world-ending threats all the time, you probably aren't very good. The teamwork with this group is nothing to write home about, but they aren't treated as a fractured bunch of goobers incapable of winning a fight.

There are a couple of one-offs. Justice tries to get Kaine to be a team player and they end up fighting a giant local (Kaine's book was set in Houston) sports mascot. Justice telling Iron Man and Captain America where to stick it when they suggest it's a bad idea to call themselves "New Warriors" because of the negative associations is a highlight. If we're using that criteria, Stark should have stopped using "Iron Man" after Armor Wars, if not sooner all the way back in "Demon in a Bottle."

There's not been another New Warriors series since this one. There was a mini-series solicited 5 years ago as part of the mini-event Outlawed, which was going to try and restrict teen superheroes. But Outlawed got kneecapped by all the publishing issues during COVID, so the mini-series never turned up. Considering it was going to put the old-school Warriors on the side of the jackbooted authorities (booo), and the names and designs that were solicited for the new characters got pretty roundly mocked, I don't consider that a loss.

Sunday Splash Page #387

"Pit Stop," in New Warriors (vol. 3) #3, by Zeb Wells (writer), Skottie Young (artist/color artist), Jean-Francois Beaulieu (color artist), Randy Gentile (letterer)

In 2005, the New Warriors returned. As a 6-issue mini-series. Where the team star in a reality show about traveling the country in an RV, fighting crime where they find it. Except they're maybe not very good at it, and the show might not even get picked up by the network?

It's hard for me to divorce the mini-series itself from how, a year later, Mark Millar would use this as pretext to make the Warriors sacrificial lambs for the monument to dumbassery disguised as topical commentary known as Civil War. Maybe Millar would have used the New Warriors anyway, but the fact their most recent comics appearance was them fighting crime for ratings, and generally not looking competent in the process, certainly didn't help.

Now, in Wells and Young's defense, the Warriors - Night Thrasher (now rocking a trenchcoat and jet boots), Nova (sleeveless for some reason), Namorita (blue again, but with white hair and Atlantean tattoos), Speedball (now with bubble lenses instead of goggles), and new characters Microbe and Debrii - actually want to help people. The pretext of the first issue is Tiger Shark and Armadillo escaped the Vault while shackled together and have taken up residence in a house in a small town. The cops are outclassed, and their call to the FF two months ago has gone unanswered. So here are the New Warriors, putting their necks on the line to catch the bad guys and protect this town.

In general, the team veterans are often annoyed by the TV people asking them not to fly so high, or for Speedball to bounce slower because the camera guy can't keep up. But, because this is making fun of "reality TV", and Young's art runs to exaggeration for comedic effect, the Warriors don't manage any clean wins. A zoo in Kansas is taken over by the Super-Apes (emancipated from the Red Ghost), who are raising the intelligence of all the other animals. The Warriors don't win so much as the parody of a person concerned with animal rights barges in and claims these poor apes don't understand what they're doing. The Super-Apes are so offended by this they don't want to fight any longer.

(I almost used a splash page from that issue of Nova and Thrasher fighting zoo animals while Nova demands to know who threw a banana.)

Issues 4 and 5 are the Warriors being invited to a town in Minnesota where pets are being abducted by Terrax. Turns out the whole thing is a scheme by androids based on historical figures - Freud, Virginia Woolf, Einstein, da Vinci - built and abandoned by the Mad Thinker, who want to take over the world, and figure the Warriors are so weak, they'll be a good test run for more challenging super-teams. Like the Great Lakes Avengers. The Warriors are bailed out by Debrii, put on the team by the producer to introduce more conflict in the "cast." Unknown to them, the entire town is androids, so the Warriors didn't really accomplish anything.

Nova's still apparently worried about trying to make it to the "big leagues" which, given what he'll be mixed up in within a year or so (Annihilation), is a prime example of being careful what you wish for Namorita joins because being part of the Atlantean royal family is boring, and at least she can do something useful this way. Night Thrasher agreed to this in an attempt to avoid bankruptcy for the Taylor Foundation, though he doesn't tell anyone that (the whole arrangement, and Dwayne's unwillingness to talk about why causes friction between he and Nova again, which is probably good for ratings.) Speedball's just bored.

Microbe gets a sad backstory and a couple of opportunities to be useful in his own way. Debrii gets introduced in the back half of the mini-series, so there's no time to progress much past "angry young black woman with some telekinesis." She refers to herself in the 3rd-person, but there's no chance for backstory or her motivation. She mentions being from New York at one point, so how'd the producer find her for this? Is she after fame, did she just want out of the city to see new places? No idea. Aren't reality shows supposed to do backstories that make you love or hate the people involved?

Sunday Splash Page #386

"Air Drop," in New Warriors (vol. 2) #6, by Jay Faerber (writer), Jason Armstrong (penciler), Walden Wong (inker), Kevin Somers (colorist), Richard Starkings and Jason Levine (letterer)

The first New Warriors series ran a little over six years, and then there was a 3+-year gap before this brief volume, written by Jay Faerber, started up. Faerber starts with Speedball trying to recruit old friends to restart the New Warriors. But Nova already turned him down once, Justice and Firestar are happy playing in the big leagues with the Avengers now, and Night Thrasher's moved to the Pacific Northwest. Elvin (Rage) is going to school. Darkhawk's got his own school issues. Dagger won't split from Cloak (and Cloak's not interested), and Alex Power won't risk pissing his siblings off again.

Faerber also includes one panel of Speedball getting laughed at by the Slingers (two of them, anyway) when he asks them. Considering none of them had ever been members, I don't know what Faerber was doing there, but it sets the tone for the series (we'll come back to that.)

Ultimately, Namorita and Nova are in the middle of (failing) to cheer up Speedball when they get a call from Genetech that Blastaar's busted through their Negative Zone portal. Turbo joins in on the way, along with a couple of new characters, Aegis (a young man who found an enchanted breastplate sent to Earth by Athena) and Bolt (a mutant with electricity powers, and the Legacy Virus.) Justice and Firestar show up to help, and inadvertently steal the credit for the Warriors' win, but that aside, it's a new team.

A new team that proceeds to not do real well. This feels like the beginning of the slide of the New Warriors' rep. Part of the reason Nova's reluctant to join is he feels the Warriors are "bush league" and he wants a higher profile. The press consistently downplay or misconstrue the Warriors' actions, though this is the Marvel Universe, so that's no huge surprise.

More than that, the team just isn't very competent. In the first series' second issue, the Warriors encountered a street gang with AIM weaponry. It's mostly an excuse for the rest of the team to do something while Night Thrasher hashes things out with Midnight's Fire (read: beat hell out of each other), and they handle it in a handful of pages, the biggest complication being when Nova takes a hit because he charged in on his own.

This version of the Warriors get their headquarters blown up by a street gang using just a regular old rocket launcher and guns. Like, the gang of regular guys was a plot that actually required more than one issue to resolve. Partially because Aegis knew one of them and let him escape, but still. They run into Generation X in the fifth issue, and even though Nova, Namorita and Speedball all have way more experience than any of the mutants, including Jubilee, the Warriors get treated as the over-aggressive rookies.

They get trounced - the entire team, handily - by a suit of Iron Man armor that's gained sentience (the media naturally frames them as being in the wrong for stopping Iron Man from killing the Blizzard.) This after Nova was losing to the Blizzard. They get humiliated by the kid that steals Iron Fist's chi in Faeber's run-up to Iron Fist/Wolverine, then chewed out by Night Thrasher for being so disorganized. Then maybe you should have taken an active hand in the team prior that, Thrash-man. Faerber had this whole thing where the team had no official leader, and I guess that's supposed to make them poorly coordinated, but two-thirds of this roster had been teammates for a long time. There ought to be some base level of muscle memory for how to work together between Nova, Nita, Speedball and Turbo, at least.

The book goes through a bunch of artists for only 10 issues. Steve Scott to start (with Chris Renaud drawing part of issues 3 and 5), Karl Kerschel on issues 4 and 5, Armstrong on issue 6, and finally Jamal Igle for the last 4 issues. Even with Walden Wong as inker for the entire run, the look of the book varies a lot. The Kerschel issues look the roughest, the most rushed, characters reduced to almost blocky outlines. Igle's art is probably the best; he's able to handle fight scenes with lots of characters and keep designs consistent, but I find his faces kind of squishy-looking. All the pre-existing characters get new costumes, though at least Nova ditches the look above later in that same issue. Namorita says she got tired of looking like a swimsuit model, but are the white crop-top and yoga pants really an improvement? I have no idea why Speedball thought he needed goggles, but I do like the change in Turbo's look. Switching from the big circular turbines at the wrists and ankles to something more like an intake or output blower for a jet engine.

As for subplots, Turbo falls for one of the loser super-villains they fight (in his civilian identity) and has to deal with that. The team, Nova particularly, have trust issues with Aegis after the problems with his buddy in the gang. Bolt hides his Legacy Virus issues from everyone except Nita, who lets him use her spare room. You may have noticed Namorita's back to being white instead of blue, well she also got some new powers because of all the stuff that Atlantean scientist put in her genetics to try and avoid issues with being a clone. (Though she seems to lose the ability to redirect electricity considering Iron Man's armor KO's her by zapping her with one of Bolt's attacks. Or, you know, it's the diminished competence thing.) Most of Nova's issues are going on in his own book, but he and Speedball are trying to get a movie made about the New Warriors. That crops up occasionally, mostly in terms of Nova being too concerned with his public image and wanting to hog credit.

The title ends with Bolt telling the rest of the team about his infection, Nova scrapping his dreams of movie stardom, and Night Thrasher deciding they're finally worth his time, though he also blames them for the fight with Iron Man. I'm guessing Tony Stark didn't admit his armor was sentient and beating his enemies to death. What a surprise, I say, in the flattest most sarcastic tone I can manage. Actually, the last page is a lead-in to Iron Fist/Wolverine, which, barely involved the New Warriors, but I guess Faeber's focus was already someplace else.

Next week, things get even worse. 

Sunday Splash Page #385

"Revenge of the Wraiths," in New Warriors (vol. 1) #74, by Evan Skolnick (writer), Patrick Zircher (penciler), Andrew Pepoy (inker), Joe Rosas and Malibu (colorists), John Constanza (letterer)

The 75-issue run of the first volume of New Warriors can be split into 3 creative chunks: Nicieza/Bagley, Nicieza/Darick Robertson, and Evan Skolnick/Patrick Zircher, each between 20-30 issues (give or take a few issues with guest artists.) I only have 14 of the last 50 issues, evenly split between the latter two teams, so we're handling them all in one go.

The overarching theme of those 50 issues could be, "growing up is hard." It seemed like the Warriors had things pretty well under control after they stopped Tai's plans and Night Thrasher got to avenge his parents' deaths with the help of his friends. But things start going south soon after. The Warriors return to the States to learn Marvel Boy was found guilty and is getting sent to the Vault. Chord's still got brain damage from his attempted suicide, which is difficult for Silhouette, since he's her dad. Rage gets kicked out of the Avengers for swiping a Quinjet to help the Warriors (and then the Quinjet gets stolen from them.)

Namorita takes over a team leader while Thrasher gets her head straight, and it doesn't go well. They get involved in a civil war in Trans-Sabal (the nation I think Peter David created in his Incredible Hulk run, where Rick Jones assassinated the tyrannical god-king), and makes some not-great decisions in a situation more complicated than they were ready for. She's one of the Warriors that gets controlled by a guy with a deep connection to the Darkforce Dimension, and then her body starts mutating, setting off a long-series of writers and artists shifting her between white-skinned and blue-skinned looks. She also trusts the wrong guy, the team's identities get leaked, and Rage's grandmother is killed, while Firestar's ends up in the hospital.

Garthan Saal shows up looking for Nova's bit of the Nova Force, and ready to destroy the Earth to get it, which sets off a theme of Rider losing his powers, then getting them back (he goes through that cycle at least twice in the last 3 years of the book.) Vance gets paroled, now calling himself "Justice", then joins into whatever that thing was where the "Gamesmaster" had people targeting New Mutants and Hellions. The team gets caught in a war across time between two Sphinxes, Original Sphinx, and the lady Sphinx that did the time-warping in the Nicieza/Bagley run.

The team gets involved in a conflict in a different country during Skolnick's run, and she's presumed dead, but the mastermind of the thing (who Zircher draws like the Timmverse Batman's Clayface, but with big sharp team and goes by "Protocol") actually sticks something in her neck that makes her his puppet. That takes about 20 issues to resolve. Something's up with Speedball's powers, and a girl shows up with dire visions of his future. 

The roster swells to the point they had a cover (issue 51) with all the characters straining to fit. Dagger's on there, Darkhawk, too. During Skolnick's run, Alex Power swipes his siblings' abilities and joins as "Powerpax" (groan.) The Scarlet Spider joins, which seems to have been the book getting lumped into the "Spider-Man" family of books at the time. Skolnick tries setting up a love triangle between Scarlet, Firestar, and Justice, but I can't tell it ever got anywhere. Eventually he brings the Dire Wraiths into play, which I guess sort of makes sense, given two characters were sharing the Torpedo armor (calling themselves Turbo) since early in the Nicieza/Robertson run.

In a bit of a surprise, Skolnick brings back the Mad Thinker, referencing his appearance in the 3rd issue of the series, when he was hired by Gentech to investigate the Warriors, but clearly had his own motives for doing so. What Skolnick reveals is the Thinker has a nephew with powers dangerous to himself that he gained because he got too close to one of the Thinker's experiments. The Thinker can't cure him, and the kid already killed his mom with these powers, so he'd hoped the Warriors could help him learn control. But, as he puts it, they became hardened faster than anticipated, 'youthful exuberance' eclipsed by 'grim ferocity.' 

Well, yeah, it's rough out there for the young hero teams. The old guard never go away, due to marketing and sales demands.

Sunday Splash Page #384

"Test Case", in New Warriors (vol. 1) #2, by Fabian Nicieza (writer), Mark Bagley (penciler), Al Williamson (inker), Andy Yanchus (colorist), Michael Heigler (letterer)

Aw yeah, now this is my jam. For the next several weeks, it's Sundays for the '90s!

The second issue of New Warriors was my first encounter with the team. I don't think I knew anything about any of the characters prior to that, so they were all new to me.

(Possible exception: I might have gotten Namor the Sub-Mariner #6 in the same batch of comics as this issue, so I would have had two introductions to Namorita.)

Other than Night Thrasher, all of them were pre-existing characters. Nova had his own series for two years in the '70s, Namorita appeared off and on in Namor's books. Firestar fought the X-Men and the New Mutants, courtesy of Emma Frost's excellent mentorship. Marvel Boy (or a version of him) was part of the Guardians of the Galaxy, off saving the Solar System of the 30th Century. Speedball was the most recent creation, and he'd gotten a 10-issue series a couple of years prior.

Again, I knew none of that going in, though Nicieza covers a lot in the first issue. Nova lost his powers, but they were really just buried deep inside. Firestar was trying to hide her abilities, Marvel Boy wanted to join the Avengers but got turned down. Namorita's in college, outspoken about environmental issues, and not hiding who she is. Speedball gets the biggest makeover from the absolute square he was under Ditko, as Nicieza turns him into a hyper-active chatterbox, looking for an escape from his parents' tense marriage.

But let's look at the new character, because in many ways, the 25 issues that mark Fabian Nicieza and Mark Bagley's tenure as creative team are about Night Thrasher's arc. The first issue establishes he's high-tech enough to hack the Massachusetts Academy's files to learn about Firestar (and SHIELD's to learn about Nova), but street-level enough to pay a hot dog cart guy to let him know who enters and leaves Avengers Mansion. Ruthless enough to blackmail Firestar into meeting him, or drop Nova off a roof on the chance the stress will trigger his powers (if not, Rich is street pizza), and enough of a dick not to apologize for it after. (He does apologize to Firestar, but phrases it like Nova and Marvel Boy were part of it.) He's also flexible enough not to fight it when his 4-person team picks up two more members during an impromptu fight against a, Terrax homunculus, basically.

His costume is black armor, with some red on the helmet, the belt, the pouches to break it up. Plus, the entirely unnecessary ribbon around his thigh. He carries a variety of weapons, and yes, he's a black character with a skateboard, but it was the early '90s, and I tell you, the skateboard was a major point in his favor with me - nerdy white kid from the 'burbs - as far as making Night Thrasher seem "cool."

The second issue delves more into Dwayne Taylor's backstory, what's driving (and eating) at him. It also sets the tone for a lot of the interactions between he and the rest of the team over the Nicieza/Bagley run. Dwayne's basically Batman. His parents were gunned down when he was a kid, and he's devoted the family fortune to fighting against the kind of people that would do that. He's intense, driven, not always in control of his temper. Given he's in his early 20s, it makes a certain amount of sense he's not always calm and collected, especially given revelations that come later.

Critically, he's not the best with other people. He tends to push them, or expect them to fall in line with what he thinks or wants, and doesn't keep his equilibrium when they don't. And either because Batman's dealing with Justice Leaguers who are a little older than the Warriors, or because Nicieza's not as committed to making excuses for Night Thrasher's behavior as writers are with Dickhead Batman, Dwayne's teammates don't take his outbursts and controlling tendencies with as much equanimity. Nova, in particular, pushes back, loudly. Maybe because he's got experience fighting wars in outer space, or because when you're used to flying full speed through obstacles like a human rocket, you don't do tact. Or maybe it was the whole "dropping him off a roof" thing.

The other Warriors are quieter, but no less capable of sticking to their ideals. Marvel Boy's typically got a well-researched and prepared argument for why they should do something. Namorita's level-headed, but also seems to best understand the code driving Dwayne. Maybe that's the result of seeing her mother killed in front of her. Nita's more likely to butt heads with Marvel Boy ideologically than Night Thrasher. When Thrasher seems ready to make deals with drug lords to get information he needs about dirty crap his company's been involved in, Firestar and Speedball are the ones who object to the ends justifying the means, and they not only don't back down, they sway Nova to their side (Nita and Marvel Boy are not present at the time.)

So Night Thrasher quits. More accurately, he declares the team disbanded and goes looking for answers alone. The rest of the team promptly ignores him and keeps doing their own thing. When they start to piece things together from another direction, their paths cross, and Dwayne has to not only rely on, but act to save these people who've become his friends. You can see the halting steps he makes in that direction at earlier points, especially when it comes to Speedball. His mentor, Chord, opines at one point Speedball is useless until he learns to actually control his powers. Dwayne's response is a hesitant remark that the, 'others seem to like him.' He might agree with Chord from a tactical standpoint, but he sees the value Speedball's lighter personality brings, maybe even to himself.

Outside Night Thrasher's broad arc of trying to emerge from a past that turned him towards vengeance, there are several other threads. It's the early '90s, so there are a couple of stories about the environment. One where Roxxon plans to dispose of nuclear waste by shooting it at the Moon (killing the Inhumans in the process), another where an environmental group has super-powered agents attacking and killing logging operations in the rainforest.

Nicieza and Bagley do a 3-issue "Days of Future Past" involving a new version of Nova's old enemy the Sphinx. Although a 3-issue test run for Age of Apocalypse might be more accurate, since it involves Sphinx rewriting the past to create a different present. It doesn't entirely make sense to have Captain America and Iron Man analogues in a world where Egypt dominates, but as narrative shorthand for the conflict a young Nova feels about risking his position as the token white guy on this version of the Avengers to do what his heart says is the right thing, it works.

Firestar gets a chance to confront Emma Frost and tell her to get lost. (Emma would, of course, repeatedly ignore this over the next few decades. Definitely a person to let be around kids!) Speedball makes some halting steps towards improving control of his abilities, even getting to punch a more-complete Terrax through a skyscraper. Namorita, while generally the one doing the best job keeping her shit together (she has real Cool Older Sister vibes in this stretch), also gets to show hints of how out-of-place she feels above and below the sea. Not truly at home in either, but trying to make it work.

The biggest single story is the trial of Marvel Boy. Vance, in the process of protecting himself from his abusive, bigoted father, kills his dad and is put on trial for it. Despite getting Foggy Nelson as a defense attorney, and having the Thing as a character witness, Vance is found guilty. It's especially rough since, with the whole mess with Night Thrasher reaching a crescendo, Firestar's the only member of the Warriors there to have his back. (Though that does play into their burgeoning romance, which would carry through the next 15 or so years before they split up.)

The team picks up a couple of new members partway through in Darkhawk and Rage, although neither is on the team long enough at this stage to do much. Well, Rage helps them steal a Quinjet and lie to the Cambodian Air Force. That was pretty cool! Silhouette, another new character and part of Dwayne's past, doesn't necessarily get a pronounced arc. When introduced, she seems to have settled into a quiet life, coping with the loss of the use of her legs. After crossing paths with Dwayne again, she's drawn into his world, and learns a few things about her past in the process of helping him with his own. I don't know if she gets closure, since the revelations open up new cans of worms, but she gains some connections. She'd shunned her brother, so her world might have been pretty lonely. Like Dwayne, the Warriors are a new family.

The costumes, never Bagley's strength, are a mixed bag. We already discussed Night Thrasher's. Bagley sticks to Firestar's original look, and Marvel Boy's costume is initially just Vance Astro's, but with a cape. Later, he ditches the cowl to let the hair flow freely. Maybe Speedball was feeling self-conscious as the only guy with flowing locks (the only real change to his costume from Ditko's design is the hair's longer.)

Namorita rocks a variety of green swimsuits, minus a few issues where she wears some Atlantean blood revenge armor. There's no mention of separate male and female versions of the armor, but I can't picture Namor wearing it. Still, it has a jagged and organic look that would suggest is was made from coral or shell and sharkskin or something similar. Nova's look is the biggest change. Initially, the red-and-yellow version seen above, it later shifts to something approximating the color scheme of Wolverine's tan-and-brown costume, before ultimately going back to the blue with yellow starbursts on the chest. So, kind of a mixed bag.

Bagley's strengths are, as usual, the clarity with which he depicts action and emotion. He never does anything flashy with page layouts, but conveys a lot with faces or body language. Thrasher broods a lot, rarely demonstrative (until late in the run where he feels like his life is falling apart), where Nova is constantly leaning into people's space, waving his fist in their face. Speedball tends to perch on stuff when his powers are active (the easier to fall off and trigger the kinetic field, I assume), but slouches a lot when he's regular Robbie Baldwin. Namorita walks or stands confidently. Chin up, calm, whereas Firestar is more tentative, almost hugging herself when she's getting caught up in her thoughts. Even when there's over a dozen characters involved in a fight, Bagley knows when to pull back and show the full battlefield, and when to zoom in on just a couple of characters.

I wasn't buying comics monthly back then, so I would have only picked up issues here and there. Still, this run stuck with me. Probably because they were younger heroes, closer to my age (although even Speedball was still several years my senior), but not true kids like the Power Pack, and not a "minor league" team, like the New Mutants or, to an extent, X-Force. The New Warriors were their own group. No telepathic bald guy inviting them to his school, or turning them into footsoldiers in his private war like Cable. Thrasher might have tried that, but he was in the same age cohort as the rest of them, he couldn't pull it off. They were a team because they wanted to be, but they still got to argue and disagree and almost fight each other sometimes. But crucially, they could do those things and still save the day. Nova did call in the Fantastic Four to help against Terrax (and the FF called in the Silver Surfer), but for the most part, the Warriors handle things themselves. They get to be good heroes, but still with their own causes and ideals they're passionate about.  

What I Bought 5/31/2024 - Part 1

Walking in the rain is nice sometimes. Having an umbrella helps, although I think not having any particular destination is more important. It brings a different sort of quiet from snowfall or stifling heat. Not necessarily better, just different.

Anyway, here's a final issue and a first issue.

Night Thrasher #4, by J. Holtham (writer), Nelson Daniel (artist), Matt Milla (color artist), Travis Lanham (letterer) - The city is warping around them, so either Thrasher's found some sort of gravity drive for his suit, or Elvin's anger-fueled powers are going to a new level.

Thrasher, Silhouette and their kid army charge into the mix. The lead cop won't listen to a vigilante and the situation, unsurprisingly, continues to escalate. So Thrasher has Sil grab the cop and the community leader while Thrasher knockout gases most of the crowd (including the kid army he worked hard to get to trust him) and gets Rage out of the police transport.

To the surprise of no one, bringing a prisoner you just freed to the cop who arrested him doesn't improve things. Rage and the cop are immediately at each other's throats, and the councilman gets shot in the scrum. Not fatally, though in the first two panels Daniel draws the bloodstain is on the left side of Ikolo's tie and then shifts to the right side (away from his heart). Thrasher makes a plea to the other two to help him save this community on the grounds they all want to preserve Harlem's soul.

Objection! Night Thrasher is presenting as facts things not in evidence. The cop's been presented as wanting to protect property, and at best, "keep the peace", but there's no indication he actually gives a shit about "the community", what with the stop and frisk of random civilians and hassling anyone who objects.

Obviously it complicates the ending immensely if Holtham doesn't write the cop as being reasonable enough to let Elvin off with 10,000 hours of community service, with Dwayne as essentially the parole officer. Even if you figure Marvel's not going to let the story say cops are brutal thugs who enjoy abusing their power and authority, it's still more likely the captain isn't going to buy in. Even if Ikolo, Elvin and the cop all think they're helping the community, they likely won't agree on what that means enough to work together. Then Dwayne has to choose where he lands.

Keeping an antagonist element that Dwayne has to work against while he resumes the Taylor Foundation's work and tries to help Elvin and those kids would have been a stronger conclusion to the arc Holtham was writing. At the start, Dwayne was going to leave entirely because these pieces of his old life were too messy. The choice to stay feels less complicated if all the side that have been at each others' throats for months decide to be pals and work together.

Blood and Fire #1, by Aaron Wroblewski (writer), Ezequiel Rubio Lancho (artist), Es Kay (letterer) - The guy in the back looks like he's left himself wide open.

Set in Japan in 1563, the younger brothers of the current lord are summoned to his side, as he's near death. The samurai we're following is essentially head of security for the middle brother, soon to be new Lord Ishida. The younger brother is both clearly aware of the order of succession and clearly unhappy with it, so it's no surprise when he ambushes his brother and his security detail outside the manor. The lead character, whose name we are not given, makes it out with his boss, but the lord dies quickly and now it's a matter of whether the samurai can make it out.

Except it doesn't matter much, because we see at the start he's in the middle of being executed, and it sounds like his wife and daughter - who we see him interact with briefly before the mission starts - are gone, too. I guess it's meant to be a question of where he went from there? Did he try to make it home and fail? Did he try to kill the younger brother for his treachery? If so, did he succeed or fail? He might make it out alive - his head's still attached and I can't tell how bad his other wound is - but it feels like an odd place to start. Guess it depends what Wroblewski does with it from there.

Lancho sticks to black and white, except for the blood. The shadows are heavy, solid things. No shading or gradation for them. Everything's a stark contrast. The way things are "supposed" to work - the next in line inherits and the younger siblings pledge fealty or at least challenge directly and honestly - very different from what actually happens - an ambush from the forest with archers. Lancho also switches to more of a widescreen panel layout for the fight and the opening in the forest. Four or five wide panels stacked atop each other per page. In the more peaceful sections in between, there's more variety. Larger panels that take up half the page to establish setting, or smaller panels arranged vertically on one side for a brief exchange between father and daughter.

What I Bought 4/25/2024

Another Deadpool 3 trailer. Or is it Deadpool and Wolverine now? I may, actually, go to a movie theater to see it. The first two didn't let me down, they earned my goodwill. Not much going on comics-wise, but there's at least one book this week to discuss.

Night Thrasher #3, by J. Holtham (writer), Nelson Daniel (artist), Matt Milla (color artist), Travis Lanham (letterer) - Can Silhouette manipulate Darkforce energy like that? Eh, why not.

Dwayne surveys the complete cock-up his fight with Rage last issue produced and decides to try and fix things. Without accepting any help from Sil, of course. He tries speaking with the head cop about making talking to Rage, but when he mentions he's a friend, the cop gets very aggressive and accusatory. Dwayne does not break several of his bones like he thinks about doing. Boooooo.

Next he tries the local councilman, Ikolo, who has rallied the community for a peaceful march/protest towards the police station. Dwayne advises against this, but Ikolo argues the community needs a rallying point since one of their major pillars of support is gone. *looks significantly at the shuttered Taylor Foundation*

Throughout the entire first half of the issue, Daniel draws Dwayne as separate from everyone. When we see shuttered businesses or people being frisked, Dwayne's always off to one side, just observing. He's separated from Armez's officers by a barricade, and he stays at the edge of Ikolo's rally. Touching nothing, only touched when Sil reaches for his hand, which he doesn't reciprocate, or when Armez pokes him in the chest, and Dwayne's leaning away from that. Trying to avoid involvement even when he says he's trying to fix things.

Having failed to sway either side Dwayne. . .gives up. This is unwelcome news to Sil, who found Rage's little army and promised to help them in exchange for help. But that means getting Dwayne out of his ennui over a life he feels he wasted and was only granted a reprieve out of stupid luck. The breakthrough comes via Dramatic Graveyard Combat, the #1 therapeutic technique for all head-shrinkers! So it's 2 New Warriors and a bunch of, kids?, pre-teens? early adolescents? Daniel draws the lead kid with a scruffy goatee, but also half the size of Sil or Dwayne, which makes him look about 8, so I don't know. Anyway, it's 2 New Warriors and the Hoodie Infestation to deal with some abuse of police authority.

What I Bought 3/20/2024 - Part 1

The march through my movie collection continues. Today is Iron Man. Last night was Inherit the Wind, and prior to that, the first 3 Indiana Jones movies. So, in that regard at least, it's been a good week.

I bought 3 Marvel comics this week, so let's start with the one from a mini-series.

Night Thrasher #2, by J. Holtham (writer), Nelson Daniel (artist), Matt Milla (color artist), Travis Lanham (letterer) - Just a couple of street fightin' men.

Dwayne licks his wounds after Rage whupped his ass last issue. Sil urges him to try and reach Rage, but Dwayne's going to rely on his fists. He also gets some new armor, but the design seems a lot like what he had during the "reality TV" run, with the duster over the armor. I like Silhouette's blue-and-black armor, though I'm not sure if that's new. Feels like I've seen it before.

As Dwayne does his training montage, Rage and his crew of kids prepare for another big play. Unfortunately, the cops are setting a trap, while adding checkpoints and constant patrols. And the cop in charge is of course the sort who insists if anyone objects to having their i.d. checked, it means they're hiding something. Sure, they're hiding that they don't like your face.

Rage and the kids attack a gentrified section of the neighborhood, the cops move in, which probably wouldn't make much difference if Night Thrasher doesn't show up and take down Rage, leaving the kids easy pickings for the cops, who decide to go ahead and arrest any other people who just happen to be standing around, including Night Thrasher. Good thing he's got an ex-girlfriend with access to the Darkforce Dimension, but now things are worse.

So I guess next issue, Dwayne resumes being involved in the neighborhood. He said he was back, but just being back to kick an old friend's ass isn't helping. In the early issues of New Warriors, he was marked by his obsession with fighting crime and trying to avenge his parents' death, to the point it was a struggle for him to pull away from that when his friends needed help. Batman, if being a total dick actually had consequences.

Setting aside crime-fighting, helping the neighborhood, keeping locals from being priced out, that's going to be an endless battle, too. I wonder if having died, then come back through what he defines as a fluke has taken that sort of drive out of him. And that's why he wanted to just start over somewhere else, he thought a clean slate would be an easier road to hoe.

What I Bought 2/14/2024 - Part 1

I saw the trailer for Deadpool 3. Not enthused at more multiverse stuff, but I will probably see it in theaters. Unless I forget (or subsequent trailers end up putting me off.) But that's months away, so for now, let's look at a first issue.

Night Thrasher #1, by J. Holtham (writer), Nelson Daniel (artist), Matt Milla (color artist), Travis Lanham (letterer) - Dwayne adopted Night Thrasher after realizing Night Window Cleaner just didn't fit his approach.

Dwayne Taylor returns to New York for the funeral of his old mentor Chord. That's rough, killing the surrogate father figure right out of the gate. But Dwayne's also there to close down the Taylor Foundation, to the consternation of several people, including Silhouette and a local councilman who was hoping the foundation could help revitalize Harlem while staving off gentrification.

Dwayne's set to tell the councilman tough luck until a bunch of kids rob a store and Dwayne realizes one fights like he does. The kids all work for some mysterious guy called "The O.G.", so maybe it's time for some night thrashing.

That's definitely someone getting thrashed. The one doing the thrashing is former Avenger and New Warrior, Rage. Maybe it's just from re-reading Suicide Squad lately, but Daniel's art reminds me of Luke McDonnell's in places. Not so much in the use of shadows, but in square-offed jaws and the slightly rough pencil lines. That's more at a distance. In the close-up panels, it's got a strong Sal Buscema vibe to it. A little more fluid in the characters' movements, not as over-the-top in the action sequences. Nobody goes flying across a room after a huge uppercut, but in the faces, there's a lot of excited, shouting expressions.

Holtham spent most of the issue with Dwayne trying to walk away from his past. New York's his past, Silhouette's his past (albeit a part he's not entirely willing to let go of), the Taylor Foundation is his past. So Rage, who Dwayne not only trained, but I think legally adopted at one point, is another part of that past. One Dwayne hasn't seen in a while, I'm guessing. My impression is, not since Dwayne's death in Civil War (an editor's note explains Dwayne came back in the Contest of Champions mini-series during Hickman's Secret Wars, which is one way to do it.)

Anyway, it's been a while. And Rage is using what he learned to train kids to push back against what they see as forces encroaching on the neighborhood. They're trying to make the place unprofitable for forces they think don't belong. The store owners are pushing back with the cops, violently no doubt.

I don't really understand why, if Dwayne admits Sil and the others made the Foundation what it was always meant to be, he doesn't just leave it in their hands rather than shuttering it. It would still let him put it in the rearview. I guess he plans to use the money to do something similar, but better right from the start. That feels like that's going to be a big part of this, Dwayne thinking it's better to just start clean, but realizing there's no way to start from 0 any longer. All he can do is improve things from where they are (which would tie in with the councilman doing his best to preserve the Harlem that's there.)

Random Back Issues #110 - New Warriors #8

Yes, Nova, fly through a rainforest while you're on fire. Maybe you used that bucket as a battering ram once too often.

This was the comic I was actually supposed to review last week, but for some reason when I was shifting longboxes, I stopped too soon. For this 3-parter, most of the roster's in Brazil, helping Speedball track down his mother, an actress that's joined with an environmental group called Project: Earth. There was a news report the group was attacked, with most of the the inner circle being kidnapped.

Or not. The leader, Omar Barrenos, staged that with Speedball's mother's theatrical expertise, to discredit the developers tearing down the rainforest. Even if that works in the long-term, in the short-term Barrenos has another plan: attack the developers, corporations and the Brazilian government directly with his own super-group, Force of Nature!

Woof. Not even the real Plant-Man, a 14th-rate Inhuman and a guy Walt Simonson used as one of the loser villains in his Acts of Vengeance tie-ins for Fantastic Four. I think Firewall's new, but I'm also not sure if she ever appeared again. More likely the codename got handed to some vaguely internet-themed bad guy later in the '90s.

Since this is the middle chapter, the Warriors got trounced before they even know what's happening. At least they had time to discuss the diversity of life in the rainforest, and why the developers would be cutting it down. Although Namorita's oddly understanding of the developers' position. possibly because the humidity is making her woozy? How is too much moisture in the air messing with her? To make matters worse, Speedball promised on behalf of the entire team to help Barrenos! Nicieza does have Nova (the one usually most annoyed by Robbie) be the only team member conscious at the time, so that Speedball explains to him. The Human Rocket shows unusual maturity in backing him up.

That's the B-plot, though. The main story revolves around Night Thrasher and his old flame Silhouette. A pastor friend of hers is being attacked by the Bengal (who Nicieza introduced in a fill-in issue of Daredevil he and Ron Lim did during Nocenti's run). Thrasher did pretty well against the Bengal, but then the Punisher showed up, rocking a long-tailed headband like either Rambo or Ryu from Street Fighter, wanting to ask Sil some questions.

The fight's narrated by Frank, who goes from mocking Night Thrasher for his bullet-proof skateboard to thinking maybe he needs one after he gets cut a couple of times by its razor edge. Frank's losing in close fighting, but manages to get enough space to do use the Budda Budda Budda style of Gun-Fu. Thrasher's armor keeps him alive, and with a few unbroken ribs, and Frank's injured enough to have to bail in his voice-activated battle van.

While Frank patches himself up - with stitches that will 'leave scars like the Appalachians' - his van's computer analyzes Dwayne's armor. All the money Punisher puts into guns, Thrasher put into that suit, which is bullet-proof (mostly), knife-proof, fire-proof, punch-proof. Which makes the Punisher wonder, in a startling lack of self-awareness, what could make a kid do that to himself? He's also left wondering what's in the shielded compartment on Night Thrasher's back.

Meanwhile, Dwayne and Sil are getting the pastor's story. He served in 'Nam. His unit gunned down and destroyed an entire village, save one kid who tried to climb on the chopper, only for this guy to kick the kid until he fell back into the jungle. Now the kid is back as a grown man, ready to stab someone, and Night Thrasher's not so sure he wants to protect this guy any longer.

That's about when the Punisher crashes his van through the church's front door, stunning everyone long enough for him to put a gun to Silhouette's head. Seems oddly destructive for Frank. Not putting a gun to the head of someone he thinks might be a crook, the driving into a church part. At least he finds out what Thrasher was hiding.

There's also a little over one page devoted to a) Emma Frost trying to find out who got access to her computer database, and b) a mysterious woman up to something in a pyramid.

{7th longbox, 195th comic. New Warriors (vol. 1) #8, by Fabian Nicieza (writer), Mark Bagley (penciler), Larry Mahlstedt (inker), Andy Yanchus (colorist), Joe Rosen (letterer)}

Saturday Splash Page #61

"Impractical Effects," in Ultragirl #3, by Barbara Kesel (writer), Leonard Kirk (penciler), Terry Pallot (inker), Rob Alvord and Shannon Blanchard (colorists), Vickie Williams (letterer)

A 3-issue mini-series released in 1997, Ultragirl was about an aspiring actress, Suzy Sherman, who one day figures out she's got herself the superhero starter kit: Flight, super-strength, if not invulnerability, increased resistance and rapid healing. She meets the New Warriors, and they team-up to try and stop a special effects wizard calling himself "Effex", who causes disasters all over L.A., seemingly just for the publicity.

The tagline for the book is, "Marvel's Sassiest Powerhouse," but I don't feel "sassy" is the word to describe her. Ultragirl (although in the journal entries Barbara Kesel uses as expository dialogue, it's written "Ultra Girl") seems like a bit of an earnest, Valley Girl-type who keeps describing things as "ultra". In the first issue, before the powers manifest, Leonard Kirk draws her as self-conscious about the fact she somehow gotten taller and more ripped recently, trying to wear dark colors to look slimmer, hunched over slightly and trying to hide the gun show.

Suzy comes out of it a bit once her friends come up with a costume from some swimsuits a sporting goods store gave her after some work she did for them, but she's extremely smitten with Justice, which sparks a bit of jealousy in Firestar that Ultragirl's either oblivious or unaffected by. She finds out she has powers when a Sentinel attacks her during a tryout photo shoot, and she's suddenly a hot item, so she decides to lean into it. But part of how she does that is by quoting Terminator, then the Adam West Batman show about how she'll see the press again. Really seems like more of a dork. To the extent she's sassy, it's when people try to make decisions about her life without consulting her and she tells them where they can stick their notions.

Which is fine! You could argue Kesel could stand to let Ultragirl be a little angrier or less cheerful towards something other than the Sentinel that tried to kill her (and even that she doesn't totally destroy, just dismantles its body and uses like a murder minded computer), but her being a more media-savvy Silver Age Supergirl is OK.

I'm not sure what Power Girl's status was at DC at this point, whether she was still in her Atlantean heritage, magic using stint or not, but it feels as though Marvel figured there was an opening for a woman that's a "flying brick" type in their character stable. We're still a couple of years away from Kurt Busiek bringing Carol Danvers into both his Avengers and Iron Man runs, and when he did, she was going to be struggling with alcoholism, anyway. Outside of getting a little play in Ostrander's Heroes for Hire, I'm not sure what She-Hulk was up to, so other than Rogue (and she was in the X-Books, which I think were more walled off at that time), there wasn't much competition.

In practice, the character never really took off. Ultragirl was part of a large cast in Avengers: Initiative, and did eventually end up in a relationship with Justice, after he and Firestar's ended. But I don't think it got referenced in the most recent New Warriors series (the Chris Yost/Marcus To volume from 2014). Kesel gave Suzy an entire supporting cast of friends, a sister, plus a science-inclined ex-boyfriend to act as tech support, but I don't know if any of them ever showed up again.

Sunday Splash Page #255

 

"She's Nutty for Him," in I 💓 Marvel Romance #1, by Fabian Nicieza (writer), Paco Medina (penciler), Juan Vlasco (inker), A. Street (colorist), Dave Sharpe (letterer)

Believe me, I feel as dirty and foul for using an emoji as you think I should, but the title really does include a heart as opposed to the word "heart". This was one of a series of these Marvel released in 2006, this one with the subtitle "Masked Intentions". It's the only one I own, and I bought it up a couple of years ago out of curiosity.

There's two stories, each somewhat related to New Warriors. The other story, by Nicieza and Mike Norton, marks the end of Justice and Firestar's relationship, which had been going since the first year of the original New Warriors volume. Vance figures out Angelica's not as keen on getting married as he is (although he phrases it stupidly, declaring that he's being "the woman" because he's having to pick the invitations, the flowers, and her dress). They agree to put the wedding off, and I don't think they ever pick things up again.

As for this story, set some time after GLA: Misassembled, it establishes Squirrel Girl has a crush on Speedball, which gets referenced a few more times, like in the Deadpool/Great Lakes Initiative Summer Spectacular. Here, though, Doreen's on the Great Lakes X-Men, and Speedball's doing a public appearance in Madison, Wisconsin for the New Warriors reality show, so she goes to meet him. Her attempt to save him from an old foe doesn't go so well. Not because she fails, but the guy's only carrying paintball guns and so the cops feel she went overboard. Still, Speedball tracks her down, reveals he read all the fanmail she sent (and his manager alerted the FBI), and gives her a kiss.

It's bittersweet reading this with the knowledge the trainwreck of Civil War is only a few months away. I doubt this was ever going to go anywhere, but any chance got smothered with the damage Millar did. Speedball gets turned into Penance, and writers spend years digging him out of that hole. Minus his stint in Avengers Academy, Speedball never has gotten to the big-time, while Squirrel Girl had a decently long run as a solo star, which included being on an Avengers team. Admittedly, an Avengers team with Red Hulk, run by Sunspot with AIM funds, but an Avengers squad all the same.

Alternate Favorite Marvel Characters #4 - Namorita

Character: Namorita (Nita Prentiss)

Creator: Bill Everett

First appearance: Sub-Mariner #50.

First encounter: New Warriors #2. This issue is mostly about an once friend, now enemy, from Night Thrasher's past showing up to throw down (the fight ultimately leaving the Warriors to wonder how far they can trust the Thrash-man, not for the first or last time). Nita gets a couple of cool moments in there, and Niceiza starts teasing the attraction between her and Nova (in that she thinks he's a meathead, but he's a hot meathead).

Definitive writer: Fabian Nicieza. He and John Byrne have written the most comics featuring her that I've read, and I prefer Nicieza's take more than Byrne's where Nita was a more deferential to her cousin (who, to be fair, was the main character of that book and is an overbearing butthead to boot).

Definitive artist: Mark Bagley. Most artists give Nita more rounded facial features, which is how Bill Everett tended to draw her (I saw someone describe his version as "elfin"). Tends to make her look younger. Bagley typically draws people more slim and angular, and that fit the Namorita in New Warriors, where she seemed older and more mature than in other books, even if only in comparison to her teammates.

Favorite moment or scene: Nita trying to fight Terrax (even a less-powerful-than-normal Terrax) solo in the first issue was pretty cool, but I'm going with something from New Warriors #7. The Warriors are faced with a couple of problems. Night Thrasher's old girlfriend Silhouette is being pursued (or so she thinks) by a strange man in a tiger/ninja outfit. Speedball's mother has gone to South America as part of a protest about cutting down the rainforest, and may be a hostage. Thrasher stays behind to help Sil, while the rest of the team travels with Robbie in their civilian identities. Which is the first time the team finds out Speedball is actually a fairly small 15-year old.

Robbie is defensive about it, for good reason. He wasn't part of Thrasher's original plan for the team (neither was Nita). Chord thinks he's basically useless, Nova would agree. The rest think he's unreliable, and now they know he's a kid, more so than the rest of them. Even if they aren't outright voicing their doubts (except Rich, who is kind of a dick), he can guess what they're thinking. Except Nita, who walks up and makes it clear she's got no concerns about him not being the biggest 15-year old around, and that his team has his back. She's frequently the tough one on the team, but that role alternates between almost everyone at some point. But that consistent compassionate attitude was kind of a pleasant surprise (wouldn't really expect it from a relative of Namor's) and a key part of her.

What I like about her: One problem a lot of teen heroes run into in these shared universes is that, no matter how many times they may save the world in their books, they get treated as second-rate when they run up against the old guard. A lot of the Teen Titans struggle with that, and the New Mutants, and the New Warriors. That's an issue I always have to reconcile, how Namorita gets portrayed in New Warriors, which is the version I'm most familiar with and like best, versus most everywhere else.

On the Warriors, Nita gets to be the team powerhouse, at least as far as muscle. Kind of the Rogue of the team in that sense. Firestar is the most powerful overall, but rarely cuts loose, for various understandable reasons like not wanting reduce people to a pile of ashes. When Nita's possessed by a guy wielding the Darkforce, Nova admits he's not strong enough to knock her out. Rage turns out to be stronger than her, but only in terms of punching (something about how his powers work). Namorita has the edge everywhere else. When Emma Frost invades their HQ with her Hellions, Nita's the one who ends up fighting that team's muscle (the terribly named "Beef"), and she pounds him into the ground, to Emma's complete lack of surprise. The guy's no Hulk, but he's strong enough to feel like trying to throw down with Colossus, so he can't be a complete waste. She'll take a swing at Terrax, or throw a railroad car at the Juggernaut. There's one issue, #28, where either she threw a submarine to the surface, or it did an emergency surface to try and get away before she ripped it apart underwater. All of which is pretty cool and impressive.

In Namor, she's more like his plucky teen sidekick. Eager to help her cousin, but with Namor always trying to keep her out of the line of fire. They split up to search for the Griffin, Namor actually already knows which direction it went and he made sure to send her the other way, because he doesn't want her trying to tangle with it. Or it's OK for him to fight Super-Skrull by himself, but he doesn't want her trying it when Kl'rt decides to turn tail. In Agents of Atlas we're told her power was 'a pale shadow' of her mother's or Namor's (which ignores the fact writers had been dialing Namor and Namora's strength levels up the previous few years, after Nita was dead and unable to benefit from that same power creep).

That's frustrating to deal with, finding a character you like and then when you try to track down their backstory or other adventures, they don't get much respect anywhere else. But you find what positives you can. Nita is determined to help her cousin whenever he's in trouble, whether he wants it or not. She may do what he says initially, but she's more than willing to go behind his back. Which is probably easier than trying to argue with Namor. Wastes less time, certainly

She's adaptable and moves around in the surface world smoothly. She's always shown as having non-superhero friends, her own place, school, interests, a full life. Namor doesn't do subtle or fitting in. When they attend a gala thing where he doesn't want people to know he's alive, Nita's the one who figures out a fake beard and how to style his hair to disguise him. Some of that ability to fit in, at least outwardly, is probably Betty Prentiss, who knew Namor back when and kind of had Nita foisted on her, although they formed a strong bond eventually (Nita took Betty's last name as hers for her surface identity, after all). And maybe some of that ability to blend in came from growing up in a kingdom where her mother was poisoned by a romantic rival and believed dead. Nita probably wasn't sure how safe her own life was, or who might have back. She would have learned to step lightly in precarious situations from that. Namor doesn't really have the patience to tread lightly. Too used to making other people jump when he enters a room.

But she isn't timid. When she's been abducted by Tiger Shark and wakes up to find Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers variety) trying to rescue her, Nita jumps right in to help. It doesn't go well (even though fighting underwater should be as much a boon to her as her cousin or Tiger Shark, but there's that second-rate treatment again), but she's able to keep thinking and figure out a way to escape. Which is how she saves Carol's life when the serum Carol took to breathe underwater ran out near the end of the fight. When she's pulled from some earlier time and thrown into a war between Sphinxes against a much different Richard Rider than the one she knows, she rolls with it easily enough. There's an immediate problem to deal with, she can figure out the rest when there's time. She's reluctant to join Dr. Strange's Secret Defenders when he contacts her. She's already on a team, she's actually just finished stopping a yacht transporting drugs into the country. She ends up guilted into it with some bull about how "Namor always answered the call."

(Far be it from me to try arguing continuity with a Roy Thomas-written comic, but that is a total load. There is no way grumpy-ass Namor agreed to help every single time Strange makes his ghost body, singing telegram requests.)

Still, she gets between the Punisher and the extremely powerful monster loosed from some TV writer's subconscious. The punch puts her in the hospital for a day, but even Frank acknowledges it would have turned him into a bloody smear. That willingness to be all-in, even when you really don't even want to be there, is a quality I always like. You see it occasionally with the New Warriors as well, where the team may not all agree on what should be the priority, but even if she's disagreeing with them, she still has their back.

At least in the Nicieza/Bagley run, Namorita was the team member who most had her shit together, which I appreciated. I liked most everyone on the team for one reason or another, but they all had their hang-ups. Speedball was a goof with a unhappy home situation. Firestar wasn't sure she really wanted to the hero thing. Marvel Boy definitely did want to be a hero, but his home situation was worse than Speedball's. Night Thrasher was skilled and determined, but his people skills were a work in progress. Nova was the most experienced hero of them, but kind of a temperamental meathead. He might have been a little too jazzed about having his powers back, too eager to throw his weight around. Nita was on a super-team, going to college, helping her cousin run his company, getting involved in environmental causes, and she seemed in control of her life. I'm not against characters who have stuff going wrong in their lives that messes them up (see: Spider-Man, or Deadpool), but sometimes it's nice to see a character that appears to have their act together, their keeping themselves balanced.

The second issue of the series has couple of interesting points. The team's doing training exercises and while almost everyone else is pushing themselves, Nita is casually holding a weight machine over her head with one arm. Not straining at all, and she knows she's not pushing herself, but she knows what her limits are. Eventually things go haywire (Speedball and Nova are involved). The machine's about to fall on her, and Marvel Boy's attempt to hold it up fails. The smoke clears, and Nita's sitting there, completely unharmed, swapping semi-flirty banter with Nova while asking Vance if he's OK. At no point is she worried about the thing falling on her, because she knows what she can take. Later on, the team ends up fighting a street gang packing AIM weaponry. The team, Nita included, isn't sweating it, but she is the one who tries to get Nova to recognize they need to work together. Instead he tries flying in alone and gets blasted like a dope.

Confidence is a trait Atlanteans have plenty of. But Nita isn't so set on making a big show of telling everyone how great she is, unlike some Atlanteans *cough* Namor *cough*, which makes it cooler. It's not bragging, because it plays that she doesn't feel the need to brag. An easy confidence in herself and her ability to handle things.

(I'm bagging on Namor a lot when really, his ego is a lot of the fun of his character. But you have to admit that guy would be a pain in the ass to deal with regularly.)

It's the same way she doesn't have a secret identity. People know that Namorita Prentiss is Namor's cousin. The guy from Gentech in the first issue knows it as soon as she introduces herself. The Mad Thinker comments on the fact she doesn't keep her life compartmentalized (and notes it as a potential vulnerability, and he ends up being right), she's not hiding. But she also isn't making a big show of it, expecting special treatment because she's Atlantean royalty, barging in, ordering people around. It's part of who she is, but not all of her. Others can recognize it or not, respect it or not, she's not going to put herself out trying to impress them. She won't treat people like dirt just because she can, but she isn't going to let anyone else do that to her, either.

Even if she's comfortable fighting alone - when Terrax emerged in the first issue of New Warriors, she was the only one there to fight him initially and she went right to it - she recognizes she's on a team, and that's something to utilize. There's no reason to do everything yourself when you have people who will help you if you let them.

Of course, who she was exactly started to be called into question not long after that. Byrne decided to make her a modified clone of her mother, for reasons I am unclear on considering he had Namor make a big deal about how it didn't change anything about her as far as he was concerned. Then Nicieza had the rest of Atlantis find out and give her the boot because they're bigots when it comes to clones. Then her body continued to change. She turned blue, got webbed hands. Then her skin went white again at some point before New Warriors vol. 2, but she kept developing other powers, secreting toxins through her skin. Then she'd gone blue again by the time Zeb Wells and Skottie Young did the "reality TV show" version of the New Warriors (which is actually kind of fun, but did, of course, set the stage for them to be used as the "irresponsible heroes" Millar sacrifices at the beginning of Civil War, sooooooo, thanks a lot guys!).

As it turned out, despite how well she seemed to be doing on the outside, Nita has a lot of concerns about where she fits even before her genetics went completely wonky. She likes being on the surface, but she's not entirely a part of it. She's different, in a world that is not known for being kind to people who are different. She's an Atlantean, but not a full Atlantean, and with them all having blue skin and her not, she's distinctly aware of it. We don't know if she heard whispers and murmurs in the royal halls, but it wouldn't surprise me. Then she's told she has no place in it whatsoever, because she's a clone. (That changed at some point, I'm assuming Namor threatened to dismember some people. He does really care for her, which is sweet.) Like I said, she didn't make a big show of being Atlantean, but it mattered to her, and she tried to do right by that aspect of her life. She defended its culture and heritage from people who would exploit for themselves, tried to act in an honorable manner, worked towards ecological causes on the surface that would also benefit those underneath the waves, and they slammed the door in her face.

Despite all the upheaval, she always seems to find a way back to who she is. After Sea Urchin ambushed her, beat her, and humiliated her, she was ready to take his head, but ultimately she pulled back. That wasn't who she wanted to be, so even though it did go against Atlantean tradition, she turned him into the authorities, unharmed. When she turned blue she was ready to give everything up because she didn't think she belonged anywhere. With a little encouragement from Namor, she went back to her friends, who were there for her. And seemed to find her the person she was again fairly soon. I like that ability to roll with some pretty severe changes in her life, and still be herself as much as possible.

I think that's why she was a helpful influence for a lot of members of the team. She had enough confidence to disagree with Night Thrasher, but do so without getting loud and violent about it like Nova (which was rarely productive, since then the discussion turned into keeping those two apart). She could give Speedball a comforting word when he was uncertain because she'd been in the same boat. She knows what losing a mother is like, and how hard you'd try to avert it if you could. She gave Firestar and Turbo someone with a little more life experience to use as a sounding board. Not so much in terms of being older, where there wasn't a huge gap, but even compared to Firestar (who was originally under Emma Frost's control), Nita has been through some stuff. It doesn't make her Team Mom, which is often a thankless task. She's more Team Cool Older Sister, which lets her be a voice of reason or support, but still gives her more leeway to screw up.

She made some judgment calls during her stint as leader, about working with the Project: Earth people they'd already fought once. Those didn't turn out so well. They got involved in a civil war overseas, where they couldn't discern which side was the "bad" one, and may not have accomplished anything more than losing track of what they hoped to accomplish. They ran into Sea Urchin again, the criminal justice system having predictably failed miserably, and she though she almost let her anger get control of her, she held back. She trusted the wrong person, who found the Warriors' secret identities as a result, and their loved ones paid the price (that risk of not compartmentalizing her life). She decided she was doing more harm than good, and stepped down as leader, then stepped away from the team. Again, I can appreciate knowing when you need to get your head straight before you can be any use to anyone else. But once she did, and after she'd started coming to grips with all that other stuff, she came back to the team. She didn't re-assume command, but she did remain someone willing to share her views in a calm, but firm manner. A nice counterpoint to some of the hotter tempers on the team, and a nice bit of stability in a roster undergoing a lot of changes at the time.

She's strong, she's confident without being overbearing about it, she's willing to be passionate about things that are important to her, but can recognize when it's getting out of control and hurting those around her, and she's willing and able to be there for her teammates when they need a hand. Namorita always seemed like someone who would be a good friend to have.

Credits! Robbie's so worried about his mom he's not making inappropriate comments about Nita touching him in New Warriors #7, by Fabian Nicieza (writer), Mark Bagley (penciler), Larry Mahlstedt (inker), Andy Yanchus (colorist), and Rick Parker (letterer). Emma Frost learns not to waste Namorita's time with brainless meatheads in New Warriors #9, by Nicieza (writer), Bagley (penciler), Sam De LaRosa (inker), Yanchus (colorist), and Joe Rosen (letterer). I bet Nita's been waiting years to do this to Namor in Namor the Sub-Mariner #4, by John Byrne (writer/artist), Glynis Oliver (colorist), and Ken Lopez (letterer). Namorita will fight a magic werewolf barbarian king on his terms in Nova (vol. 4) #34, by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning (writers), Mahmud A. Asrar (penciler), Scott Hanna (inker), Guru eFX (colorists), and Cory Petit (letterer). Nova will screw things up with her eventually, but not today in New Warriors #44, by Nicieza (writer), Darick Robertson (penciler), Larry Mahlstedt (inker), Joe Rosas (colorist), Chris Eliopoulos (letterer). Unfortunately, helping teammates with losing loved one is a fulltime job in New Warriors (vol. 2) #7, by Jay Faerber (writer), Jamal Igle (penciler), Walden Wong (inker), Kevin Somers (colorist), and Richard Starkings and Comicraft (letterers). You'd never know a ton of weights fell on her in New Warriors #2, by Nicieza (writer), Bagley (penciler), Al Williamson (inker), Andy Yanchus (colorist), Michael Heigler (letterer).